Michelle Pfeiffer: I Used to Be in a Cult

Michelle Pfeiffer says she became involved with a cult when she first moved to Hollywood, but didn't realize she was in one until she left.

The actress told Britain's Daily Telegraph that upon moving to Los Angeles at age 20, she became involved with a "very controlling couple" who practiced breatharianism — the belief that the human body doesn't need food or water, only sunlight, to survive. It was only when she met her first husband, actor Peter Horton, that she realized she was part of a cult, because he was researching cults for a role in a film about the Moonies.

"We were talking with an ex-Moonie and he was describing the psychological manipulation and I just clicked," Pfeiffer told the Telegraph.

The couple Pfeiffer was involved with were personal trainers of sorts who taught weight training and practiced strict diets. "I wasn't living with them but I was there a lot and they were always telling me I needed to come more," Pfeiffer says. "They were very controlling."

Pfeiffer also describes her relationship with the couple as "financially draining" because she was asked to pay whenever she visited them.